Claude Monet first came to paint in and around Pourville on the Normandy coast in 1882 and returned several more times over the years. During these stays he produced many views of that picturesque fishing village and the landscape around it. One of his favorite motifs were the cliffs rising dramatically from the sea. Monet often worked on several canvases at once, in order to capture changing effects of weather and light. The viewer is placed at the edge of the rough sea and sees the cliffs through the blurring mist of a passing rainstorm and foam-capped waves.